Atom–light interactions in photonic crystals

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 3808
• Main Authors: Goban, A., Hung, C.-L., Yu, S.-P., Hood, J.D., Muniz, J.A., Lee, J.H., Martin, M.J., McClung, A.C., Choi, K.S., Chang, D.E., Painter, O., Kimble, H.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 08.05.2014; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 140/125; 639/624/399/1022; 639/766/36/1121; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4808

The integration of nanophotonics and atomic physics has been a long-sought goal that would open new frontiers for optical physics, including novel quantum transport and many-body phenomena with photon-mediated atomic interactions. Reaching this goal requires surmounting diverse challenges in nanofabrication and atomic manipulation. Here we report the development of a novel integrated optical circuit with a photonic crystal capable of both localizing and interfacing atoms with guided photons. Optical bands of a photonic crystal waveguide are aligned with selected atomic transitions. From reflection spectra measured with average atom number , we infer that atoms are localized within the waveguide by optical dipole forces. The fraction of single-atom radiative decay into the waveguide is Γ 1D /Γ′≃(0.32±0.08), where Γ 1D is the rate of emission into the guided mode and Γ′ is the decay rate into all other channels. Γ 1D /Γ′ is unprecedented in all current atom–photon interfaces. The use of photonic crystals to trap atoms on a chip offers unique possibilities for atom–light interactions. Advancing towards this goal, the authors realize photonic crystal waveguides where the electronic transition frequencies of localized caesium atoms are aligned with the band edges of the waveguides.